I'm relaunching soon - stay tuned!

Fear the peanut no more!

Rob and I finally stopped procrastinating and fed Stella peanut butter again today. As we suspected, nothing at all happened, even after an entire sandwich, but just to be prepared we were in the car parked outside of the Children's ER. To celebrate, we went out for peanut butter yogurt at Yogli Mogli. Great day.

California - wedding, beach and other fun

One of my bestest friends Erica got married over the weekend and we made a week of it. Unfortunately, little Stella picked up a cold the day we left and coughed so hard on the nighttime flight there she threw up on herself...3 times. We had to modify plans a bit, especially our lodging plans, which originally included a one week old, but all worked out fine and we had a great trip. BIG thanks to Mimi for babysitting a sicko toddler all weekend! Here are some photos - first of family only and then of the wedding festivities.

Egg hunt at Kathy's

Stella is loving her new daycare, although it's obviously wearing her out being so busy all of the time. Today the group did an egg hunt and had a great time. Pictures are below.

On Monday I'm starting my new job and a master bathroom remodel. Craziness all around!

First day of daycare!

Stella started daycare today! We found an in-home daycare center just around the corner from us - literally a 5 minute walk - and all of the 5 other kids are exactly Stella's age, give or take a few months. Rob dropped her off this morning and she was a little sad, but not as sad as Mommy when she said goodbye to the both of them at home. I was in tears while Stella patted my back as in, "It's OK, Mommy. You won't miss me too much!"

As of 11am Stella had already challenged the current queen bee Lucy for title of top kid (Lucy went after Froggie and Stella retaliated, apparently). Then she had a big lunch of things she would never eat for us and took a two-hour nap, even! Great day. She was tired beyond belief from all of the adventure and was asleep by 7; hopefully she'll be rested and ready for day 2 tomorrow.

Here's a picture of this morning, along with some from the weekend with Gramps and a video of Stella on the big-kid slide at Leaping Lizards last week. (We had to play inside all week after she developed a sinus infection from her terrible allergies - she's on antibiotics and children's allegra now and is finally recovering.)

New pillow - and at a good time

Stella got a new pillow made my Nana last week. Below is a video of her opening the package. Thanks Nana - she loves it!

It's a good time for some head elevation, too, because the poor thing has been snotty and congested for a full month now. It started (I think) with a cold while Rob and I were in Mexico, then turned into allergies, and after a month of irritation her sinuses just had enough and went full-blown infection on us. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and children's allegra and she's on both as of this morning. Let's hope it works! I am tired of being stuck indoors with a toddler in beautiful 80 degree weather and I KNOW she's sick of being sick.

Thanks for the package, Mimi and Gramps!

Zoo Atlanta

We had a fun family morning at the zoo today. Here are some photos of the zoo, along with a very sweet video of our little animal lover. She also hugged some pigs and sheep, in addition to half a dozen goats at the zoo's petting zoo.

Talking in sentences

Stella started putting words together this week, which is exciting to hear. Her first sentence was "Bye bye, choo choo!" to a train we drove by. Next was "Bye Bye Dada" in the morning and "Baby LiLi" (Elias), which is her babysitter Deb's infant son. She's in love with him! Today I heard "Bye Bye Poo Poo" (Thanks Nana) and I swear she looked at me at the park this morning and said "Go Home". So we did.

We're having amazing weather down here and I keep getting pink from all the sun - it's just too early to think about sunscreen. One week from now, though, Rob and I will be basking up the sun on a Mexican beach, so I'd better get used to the thought of slathering up or else we'll be burnt toast!

Here are some pics from my New Orleans trip two weekends ago. Alligators, Bourbon Street and crawfish boils. Good times.

Wild Things and swagger wagons

It was quite a week for the Coles! I had a job interview plus some good news on the consulting front, and we bought ourselves a minivan. 8 seats, 8 cupholders...4 just for the front two seats. Life is sweet.

Jess and I took the van to the GA Aquarium today to make Stella's dreams of fish come true. As suspected, she was in heaven. Literally went in the door screaming "FISH!!!!!"

Here are some pics of her playing in Daddy's static-y sofa fort last weekend and the aquarium today.

Monkeying around

Stella's vocabulary is improving about a fast as her mobility. As some of you saw on Facebook, she *finally* says "mama"...only after about 25 other words, including worm and Santa. She's mastering some other family names, too. Yesterday she said "Jess"!

You can tell she's her father's daughter, too. A regular Count von Count. Her only numbers are two and three, but she counts everything in sight. "Two, three, two, three..."

Here are some recent photos of her monkeying around. The last one is of her and her Monkey Mentor, Emerson (the daughter of my Wednesday nanny). They are fast friends.

Christmas at Grandma Bates's

Just came across the photos from our afternoon XMas celebration at Grandma Bates's. Thought the series of Jessica & Stella were worth sharing. They make me pee my pants laughing...it's the perfect example of how hard it is to get a good photo with a toddler!

Snowed in

On day 3 of Snowmageddon/Sn-OMG 2011. Almost out of milk, one egg left, but we'll be OK - we could eat frozen pureed vegetables from here to next week if it comes down to it! It's been a productive time at home, which is great. Here's a video from our 5 minutes outdoors...

Goodbye to 2010

Thank you 2010 for our child's first full and healthy year, for Rob passing his final two actuarial exams, for the start of my small business, for Erica's engagement, Kylle's wedding and many wonderful times with friends and family.

While 2010 was a great year, I'm ready and excited for the new one. It's been a theme in my life that odd-numbered years are usually the important ones. Born: 1977. End high school and begin college: 1995. College grad: 1999. Stranded in Newfoundland: 2001. Meet Rob: 2003. Engaged and start grad school: 2005. End grad school, marry and buy first home: 2007. Have first child, buy second home and move to Atlanta: 2009. Pretty crazy, huh?

I can already tell that 2011 is going to be a year of changes for many reasons.

One, Aunt Jess and Uncle David are getting **MARRIED**! Congratulations and mazel tov to two of our favorite people.

Two, Stella nursed for the last time on 12/31/10. It wasn't intentional; it just happened. While I'm sad that this chapter in our relationship is over, I'm grateful for the new freedom and also for the easy transition. One day the milk was there and one day it wasn't, and Stella doesn't seem too miss it.

Three, this will be the first year of our relationship when Rob doesn't have to study for at least one exam, if not two. Talk about FREEDOM!! And as icing on the cake, he will likely begin working from home one/day days week, saving two hours in commuting time each day.

I'm very excited to see what else this year might bring! Happy New Year, all.

New Year's Eve drag racing

Watch toddlers Stella and Max fight it out for Racing Champ of 2010!

Tickle Me Elmo

We're sorry for this reaction, Patrick + Laura, but since you know the story now I might as well share the video!

Photos: Christmas in Tennessee

It was another great Christmas at Nana and Grandpa's! We still haven't figured out where to put all of Stella's new toys and 1 million stuffed animals, but there are far worse problems one could have. Below are some photos from our time in TN. Most of it was spent in the hot tub watching the snow fall. Ahhhh~

In other news, Stella started her new daycare arrangement today with our friend Deb and her kids Emerson (almost 2) and baby Elias. There were a few tears at dropoff but I could tell she was eager to get over it and get back to playing with Emerson's XMas presents! Can't wait to hear how it went today.

Merry Christmas!

We love this age!

Stella has been so awesome the last few weeks. I think 15 months is my favorite age yet! She's playing all kinds of games with us, goes to sleep without protest - even for a non-family member babysitter - and, as you can see below, is becoming quite the finger painter! We're really excited to see the other Coles this week and share the fun.

This little piggy